Miramonte gets new girls basketball coach

Jake Leonard, Chronicle Staff Writer

Published 4:00 am, Wednesday, September 10, 2008

Miramonte High has hired a girls basketball coach while facing legal action concerning the dismissal of its old one.

James Kizziee, who has been an assistant varsity and head junior-varsity coach at neighboring Campolindo-Moraga for the past four years, was approved last week by the Acalanes Union High School District to replace Darrell Hirashima as the head of the highly successful Orinda program.

Hirashima was not retained after the Matadors posted a 27-4 record in 2007-08, and he says he was not told the reasons for his dismissal.

Hirashima filed a law suit against the school district in early August, claiming denial of due process and that the district failed to follow its paperwork procedures when he was dismissed.

Hirashima and his lawyer, Kirk Boyd, had tried to secure a restraining order that would have prevented the hiring of a new coach.

Attempts to reach the Miramonte athletic director and Jim Negri, the superintendent of the Acalanes Union District, were unsuccessful Tuesday, but Negri said last month that it was district policy not to comment on lawsuits, or on individual personnel matters.

Hirashima, 56, had a heart attack while playing basketball Aug. 10, and has stayed away from the legal issues in the aftermath. He said he is recovering "remarkably well," and plans to continue coaching, if not with Miramonte, then elsewhere.

"I'm not supposed to play basketball anymore, but coaching has always been a stress-reliever for me," Hirashima said. "I'm holding out hope that I'll still be able to return to this group of girls (at Miramonte), who have shown so much support for me, but I guess it's kind of a long shot at this point.

Kizziee did not return phone calls or e-mails, but addressed the issue of replacing Hirashima in a statement left Sunday on a NorCalPreps.com message board:

"I completely understand the support for (Darrell). He deserves every bit of it! From the two or three times I have spoken with him over the past five or six years, he came across as kind and classy. I simply interviewed for the job and got it."

"James will do fine at Miramonte - he's a good guy and won't have trouble winning over the team," said Clay Kallam, the girls coach at Campolindo.

Water polo: Thirty-two of the best boys water-polo teams in the state will gather in the South Bay on Friday and Saturday for the John Schmitt Memorial Tournament.

Matches will be held at Bellarmine, Live Oak-Morgan Hill and Monta Vista-Cupertino, starting at 1 p.m. Friday, with the final match at 5 p.m. Saturday.

Cross Country: The Ed Sias Invitational at Hidden Valley Park in Martinez on Saturday kicks off the East Bay cross-country season. Hosted by College Park-Pleasant Hill and Campolindo, nearly 50 schools are expected to participate, including Carlmont-Belmont, the No. 4 girls team in the state according to Dyestatcal.com, and Petaluma, which has the No. 8-ranked boys team. There will be 13 races on the hilly, 2-mile course, beginning with a coaches race at 8:30 a.m. and ending with the large school girls at 1:10 p.m.